USPS knows best how to deliver

Congress should approve adjustments to U.S. Postal Service operations that will keep this essential service afloat.

Congress should approve adjustments to U.S. Postal Service operations that will keep this essential service afloat.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe argues that the USPS cannot afford the current requirement that it prepay retirement health benefits, which cost it $5 billion. Refinancing the program would reduce that commitment to $1 billion a year, a huge help for the stand-alone agency that could lose up to $15.9 billion this year.

Donahoe also wants to end Saturday general mail delivery, except for packages. Local post offices would remain open on Saturdays. Add these to other money-saving changes USPS is making, including consolidating some of its mail processing centers, will help put the the agency back in the black.

The USPS must make changes to survive and continue providing its valuable services in a fast-changing landscape that includes private competitors in package delivery as well as inroads from the Internet. By one estimate, the total volume of mail USPS handles has dropped almost 20 percent since 2002. Hikes in postage rates have helped cover the loss in volume. But officials say the biggest challenge is maintaining solvency while meeting the drastic pre-pay requirements of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which Congress passed in 2006. It calls for the USPS to pre-fund all retirement over the next 50 years, even employees the agency hasn't hired yet.

Congress should listen to Donahoe now. He's proposing a working plan. Businesses and residents could adjust to curtailed Saturday delivery keeping in mind that maintaining the overall fiscal health of the USPS is well worth the sacrifice.